White Nights

“It was a wonderful night, such a night as is only possible when we are young, dear reader.”

The opening line sets a nostalgic and intimate tone, immediately addressing the reader and positioning the narrator as reflective and emotionally attuned. The phrase “dear reader” establishes a direct connection, drawing the audience into the narrator’s private world. It also signals the story’s romantic sensibility and anticipates its themes of connection, idealism, and fleeting happiness.

“Really I don’t know how to answer; I am afraid to…Do you know I have been happy to-day? I walked along singing; I went out into the country; I have never had such happy moments. You…perhaps it was my fancy…Forgive me for referring to it; I fancied you were crying, and I…could not bear to hear it…it made my heart ache…Oh, my goodness!”

The narrator’s fragmented speech reveals his emotional vulnerability and social inexperience. The ellipses and interruptions reflect his nervousness and the intensity of his internal state. His response to Nastenka’s possible sadness shows how quickly and deeply he forms attachments—an early indication of his capacity for idealized, all-consuming love.

“Wait till to-morrow. Meanwhile, let that be a secret. So much the better for you; it will give it a faint flavour of romance.

This quote reflects Nastenka’s awareness of the story they are creating together and her impulse to cast it in romantic terms. The phrase, “a faint flavour of romance” reveals her comfort with theatricality and emotional risk. It also shows how quickly their shared experience becomes something they both narrate to themselves as meaningful.